that will do it for me. i'm don lemon. thanks for watching. "the situation room" with mr. wolf blitzer begins right now. >> don, thanks very much. happening now, the united states senator talks about the traumatic day she tried to find a pulse by putting her finger into the bullet hole of a colleague who had just been shot. now she wants to ban 158 kinds of assault weapons. dispute all the iphones, the tablets, ipods and a whole lot more there are out there, perhaps in your hands right now, apple's day as a wall street darling potentially, potentially could be over. wait until you hear how the stock got clobbered today and why. and football star manti te'o opens up about the hoax that fooled him and the rest of the country. it's the interview that so many people have been waiting for. i'm wolf blitzer.

you're in "the situation room." we begin with a new effort to ban 158 specific assault-style weapons and prohibit other guns from using magazines containing more than ten rounds of ammunition. those are just two of the provisions of a bill put forward today by united states senator whose own hands were bloodied by one of the most notorious shootings in california history. dana bash was over at the emotional announcement on capitol hill. tell our viewers, dana, how it unfolded. >> reporter: wolf, of all of the gun control measures that president obama announced earlier this month, banning the assault weapons at least reviving the ban is going to be the most difficult to pass here in congress. even the primary senate sponsor

says it will take years. for dianne feinstein, it's personal. >> supervisor harvey milk have been shot and killed. >> reporter: the death of her colleagues, including harvey milk, the first openly gay public official in america was so traumatic, she rarely discusses it. you were very close to that tragic shooting. but here at the launch, she announced it great detail. >> i was the one who found supervisor milk's body and put a finger in a bullet hole trying to get a pulse. once you have been through one of these episodes, one you see

what the crime scene is like, it changes your view of weapons. >> she put on an elaborate event. even getting permission from d.c. to display ten types of assault weapons, including an ar-15, the kind of rifle the shooter uses to murder children in newtown. >> assault weapons were designed for and should be used on battlefields, not on the streets. >> reporter: this would prohibit the sale, manufacture, transfer and importation of assault-style weapons and ban large-capacity magazines of more than ten rounds of ammunition. it keeps legal most handguns and 2,200 hunting and sporting rifles. >> how are you going to go hunting with something like that? >> reporter: family members and victims of massacres across the

country. >> i was shot in the jaw. it's one millimeter from my brain stem. >> if anyone asks today, can you win this? the answer is, we don't know. it's so up hill. >> reporter: but pushing gun control is now a white house campaign-style effort and vice president joe biden held a social media town hall, a google hangout to rally support. >> make your voices heard. this outfit, this town listens when people rise up and speak. >> reporter: the white house and feinstein know their biggest hurdle is convincing fellow democrats from gun right states to support gun control. >> the message to democrats is, see what your silence does? there will be more of these.

>> reporter: no surprise, wolf, saying that they don't like this proposed ban. feinstein is, once again, focused on curtailing the constitution instead of prosecuting criminals or fixing the mental health system. we are confident congress will deny the wrong-headed approach. >> it's not just republicans who are going to be opposed to what senator feinstein is proposing. a whole lot of democrats are going to be nervous about it as well. >> reporter: precisely. that's what senator feinstein was saying there in the piece, that her message to those fellow democrats, which they really are her first target, if you will, in terms of lobbying for her legislation, her message is, silence is really deadly. and the number of democrats,

though, from those red states are big. i've talked to couple of these, ted barrett as well. senators that say just not -- they don't even think that they could go for the assault weapons ban. universal background checks, that is something that has the most likelihood of passing but that's a long shot. >> we'll see what happens. dana, thanks very much. other news we're following, including a dramatic new confession involving one of the best football players in the nation. manti te'o, the aspiring story of the player who kept playing despite the death of his grandmother and girlfriend took a bizarre turn a couple weeks ago. te'o revealed that he had been deceived. his girlfriend who he had only spoke with by phone but still called the love of his life never actually existed. deadspin.com revealed he was the victim of a hoax. te'o tells katie couric he initially wasn't as forthcoming

as he could have been after finding out the truth because he was embarrassed. >> did you have any involvement in creating the scam? >> no, i did not. i think what people don't realize is the same time people found out about this situation, i found out. i got the call on december 6th saying that she was alive and from december 6th to january 16th, my whole reality was that she was dead and all of a sudden she is alive. at that time i didn't know that it was just somebody's prank. >> katie couric also asked te'o about the phone conversation he had with the alleged perpetrator of the hoax after it had all been revealed. >> you say he later called you. what did he say to you on the phone? >> he just basically expressed

and explained what he did and why he did it. >> did he say why he did it? >> he didn't say why. he just explained that he just wanted to help people and that was his way of helping people, of being someone that he wasn't and trying to connect with somebody on a different level and help them out. >> what did you say to him? >> obviously it didn't really help me out. >> we'll have more excerpts in a little bit. let's get more background on this story that's the talk of much of the sports world, even beyond. our cnn national correspondent deborah feyerick reports. >> reporter: for manti te'o, every game, every victory led to this, january's national championships shaped and inspired in many ways by the personal tragedy months earlier of the 21-year-old college football hero. >> when i lost my girlfriend and

my grandma, that was possibly the hardest time of my life. >> reporter: the day was september 11th, 2012. te'o learned his beloved grandmother had died. hours later, a call that his girlfriend who had apparently told him that summer she had been in a car accident and diagnosed with cancer, she had also died. >> you know, the love of my life, the last thing she said to me was, i love you. >> reporter: te'o dedicated the season to them both, sending white roses and skipping the funeral to play football, as he promised. everyone, opposing teams, fans rallied around the hawaii native. >> to see the whole stadium, both notre dame and michigan fans wears leis, you know, that's where i just looked up and said, my father, you're the man. >> reporter: the relationship began on facebook. in an off-camera interview with espn, te'o says he met ka cue wa

the winter of his freshman year. he fell in love with this photo and the voice over a secell pho. >> i just want to say i love you and good night and i'll be okay. >> te'o telling espn that she was a stanford graduate running the family construction business because her dad had dead. every time they tried to meet, something prevented it. te'o's first face-to-face contact came with this guy, renaiah who claimed to be her cousin. a girl who in reality is diana omeara. >> he left me messages on facebook that he and his cousin had been in a traumatic car accident. >> reporter: the story unravelled two days before the

heisman trove trophy award. >> what i went through is real. the feelings, the pain, the sorrow, that was all well. >> reporter: he references the death and keeps the story alive. soon after, te'o tells his coaches and notre dame investigates but says nothing before the national championships. the story breaks a week later and the university stands behind its player saying te'o was the victim of a cruel hoax. >> now, there was no overt red flag but some signs. he contacted friends. he asked about her, did they know her, what did they know about her? and a couple people said, yes, she does exist but they never went into further detail. also, she wanted his checking account number. he went to the credit union where he kept his money and

said, is it possible to withdraw money if you give somebody your account. they said no. but it's a fantastic story. every time he had an answer, any time there was a little sign that maybe this wasn't right, the person on the other end was able to answer miss question. wolf? >> all right. deb feyerick, thanks very, very much for that. we're going to have more from man ta te'o's interview with katie couric we'll also have a recording of the voice who you believed was the voice of lennay. also, why apple's stock is nosediving despite the company's record profits. what's going on? , your life will flash before your eyes. make it worth watching. introducing the 2013 lexus ls. an entirely new pursuit.

another punishing day for shareholders for one of the best known companies. apple stock loft more than 12% of its value today. since september, the stock has dropped 28% even though the company just reported record-breaking quarterly profits. let's bring our own alison kosik. she is in new york. what is going on here? >> what apple did after the closing bell, it released its report card, its earning report and apple can na can balancized itself. people bought more iphone 4s instead of the iphone 5. to put it in perspective, apple reported record profits and sold 48 million iphones in the recent quarter and 23 million ipaipads

three months. wall street was unhappy with it. that's how the shares ended, more than 12% lower. the mantra, buy low, sell high. they wanted to take a profit before the higher capital gains taxes can kicked in at the beginning of the year. what's happening today is investors choosing to get out of the stock because competition is becoming more of a factor. there are these quality alternatives going strong these days. i'm talking about the tablet and the smartphone arena. it's getting crowded. what you're seeing is the average price is still around $700. a lot of people are still sweet on apple shares even though it plunged today, wolf. >> steve jobs died about a year and a half ago. what does all of this say about tim cook's tenure as the apple's ceo? >> it says you know what, you're

going to get the blame, tim cook. you're the ceo so the buck stops with you. he saw the blowout of the iphone 4s and took the stocks to greater heights. it was around $375 when he took over. the price almost doubled in tim cook's first year in charge. it peaked in september when iphone 5 came out. since then, the shares have been tumbling. for one, wall street and analysts don't have much confidence that he can deliver like steve jobs did, that he can deliver the hippest, sexiest blockbuster devices. if the next quarter shows more of what we saw last quarter, there may be a re-evaluation going on but for now the analyst

expects cook to stay. wolf? >> alison kosik, thanks very much. in the wake of yesterday's fireworks, hillary clinton came to praise the man that is taking over her job as the secretary of state. senator john kerry, our foreign affairs correspondent, jill dougherty, was watching what could very well be her last public appearance before congress. >> the waning days of hillary clinton as her secretary of state and it's time to ask the question, did she put her mark on that job? hillary clinton's last day of secretary of state is almost here. >> we're all getting a little emotional anticipate sentimental around here. we have about a little over a week to go in my tenure. >> that is, if the senate, as expected, confirms john kerry by

then. >> john is the right choice to carry forward the obama administration's foreign policy and i urge his sped deacon firm mags. >> before leaving, just like her first day on the job four years ago -- >> i am absolutely honored and thrilled beyond words to be here with you. >> clinton is likely to say good-bye to the diplomat she's led and deliver a major speech on international policy. but her last days as america's high-flying top diplomat have been overshadowed by nearly a month of illness, the fallout over the deadly attack in benghazi. >> i think it's inexcusable that you did not know about this and that you did not read these cables. >> and her impassioned defense. >> what difference at this point does it make? it is our job to figure out what happened. >> i don't think it will be part of her legacy. >> beyond benghazi, former secretary of state madeleine albright says clinton did something big for america's foreign policy. >> i think she will be valued

greatly for finding other parts than just military power for america the way that we use our influence. >> others, while praising clinton personally, charge the administration she's part of, failed on the big international issues, like middle east peace, iran, and north korea. >> i think the probably for hillary clinton and her legacy has less to do with hillary herself or with her competence and has a lot to do with barack obama and the way he runs this administration. basically, in his first term, the state department had no role in the making or execution of foreign policy. >> but a former senior member of clinton's state department believes hillary clinton changed the relations in the world. >> you think about climate change can or global pandemics or food security or water security, all those are issues that involve development as well

as diplomacy. they require a different set of tools and secretary clinton understood that and has been systematically building up those tools. >> and last week hillary clinton was asked whether she's ready to retire. i don't know if that's a word i would use, she said, but certainly stepping off the very fast track for a little while, which, of course, a comment that only fueled speculation that she might run for president in 2016. wolf? >> this woman is not getting ready to retire, thanks for sure. jill, thanks very much. the republican senator who provoked hillary clinton's exacerbated response yesterday tried to dot same to john kerry today as well. let's listen to this exchange. >> it makes a big difference whether the people of the united states have the confidence that the administration and president is being truthful with them. so i guess my question is, do

you agree with that point and are you willing to work with me or do you agree with hillary clinton that that's kind of yesterday's news and let's move on? >> well, be senator, if you're trying to get some daylight between me and secretary clinton, that's not going to happen here today on that score. but i think you're not -- i think you're talking past each other z we could be. >> i don't think that was the question. i think that if your question is, should the american people get the truth and does it matter? hillary clinton would say yes. and i say yes. >> will you work with me on an ongoing basis so we can get that behind us so we can find out what kpaactually happened? can you make that commitment to me? >> senator, in all fairness, i think we do know what happened. i think it is very clear -- were you at the briefing with the tapes? >> no. >> well, there was a briefing with tapes which we all saw,

those of us that went to it, which made it crystal clear. we sat for several hours with our intel folks who described to us precisely what we were seeing. we saw all of the events unfold. we have a very complete and detailed description. >> senator kerry telling senator johnson he does not agree with the claim that the obama administration intentionally misled the american public about what happened at benghazi. coming up, you're about to hear the voice mail left by the woman who pretended to be the football player manti te'o's girlfriend and his emotional response. ♪ reach one customer at a time? ♪ or help doctors turn billions of bytes of shared information... ♪ into a fifth anniversary of remission? ♪ whatever your business challenge,

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. an american faces a long jail sentence for his role in the 2008 attack in mumbai, india. kate bolduan is here. what happened? >> so many of our viewers will remember the story. a federal court has sentenced david hedley to 32 years in prison. 164 people were killed. prosecutors agreed to not seek

the death penalty. he cooperated with government efforts to fight terrorism. also, what's the video version of a tweet? good question. apparently it is a vine. that's the new video service unveiled by twitter today. like tweets, vines have to be six seconds or less. for now, it's only available on iphones or ipads. a soccer player is facing a suspension for kicking a ball in the last few minutes of a match between chelsea and he kicked the ball boy. chelsea down by two goals, every second counted, obviously. but the kick outraged fans of both teams and got him kicked out of the game. not a surprise. a camera operator has a real

life presh with death brush with death. wow. that's a bi-plane coming within two feet of filming this stunt. the video has been posted on youtube where it's been seen 166,000 times so far. he hadn't seen the video and wasn't able to comment on it quite yet. close call. >> is that a runway? >> it looks like it. >> what were they doing on a runway? >> all wonderful questions people are asking right now. >> fortunately everyone is okay. >> fortunately. manti te'o has now told his side of the story. you hear him explain why he never doubted his girlfriend was real. that's next. ♪make just one someone happy ♪and you will be happy too.

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i'm ryon stewart, and i sea food differently. college football players usually welcome exposure ahead of the nfl draft, but not manti tie ohio. the heisman trophy winner up may be the best known player in the country but for all of the wrong reasons. we've brought together a panel to talk about manti te'o and the latest information coming out, including his interview with katie couric. andy, sports illustrated our sisters publication in gainesville, florida. joining us is gail saltz, also joining us in washington, eric, the president of resources and the author of damage control, why everything you know about crisis management is wrong.

let me just play you a clip that katie couric just aired. >> the main person, there are so many similarities. she was polynesian, samoan, i'm samoan. i'm mormon and she knew a lot about that. i found a lot of peace and comfort in being able to talk to somebody and they knew my standards, they knew my culture, they knew what is expected of me and i knew what was expected of her. >> one of the theories, many theories, manti, making the rounds is somehow you created this whole scenario to cover up your sexual orientation. are you gay? >> no. far from it. far from that. >> as you mentioned, you did try

to see her in person on multiple occasions and she would always come up with an excuse as to why she couldn't meet you. >> uh-huh. >> i mean, as this happened repeatedly, didn't you think, there is something really fishy going on here? >> for me, i guess i was just so caught up in the whole thing that i was like, okay, she can't see me and she would give me good reasons, too. she would say, my brother has my car can or i'm in the hospital. i wasn't going to tell a person who just came out of a coma, you need to call and come and see me right now. >> let's start with andy staples from sports ill straighted. you interviewed manti te'o when he was in high school. what kind of person is he? can you see why he might have believed this story? >> well, he's a devout mormon. that was very clear from the start. in fact, the reason i met him is i was doing a story on recruits

who belong to the lds church and what challenges it poses when they are picking a college. we knew his religion was extremely important to him. he seemed like a very nice guy, like a very thoughtful guy. that continued through college and i followed this story as well and was at the heisman ceremony when he was talking about this stuff when apparently he had already been told it was a hoax. it's just really weird and raises a lot of questions. >> manti te'o, gail, released some of the voice mails that he said came from this person that he believed to be lennay, the girlfriend online. let me play a clip. >> hi, i'm just telling you know i got here and i'm getting ready for my first session and just want to call you to keep you posted. i miss you. i love you. bye. babe, i'm just calling to say good night. i love you. i know that you're probably

doing homework or you're with the boys or i want to say i love you and good night. i'll be okay tonight. i'll do my best. yeah. so get your rest and i'll talk to you tomorrow. i love you so much, hun. sweet dreams. i don't know who answered your phone and i don't care. i swear on my life i'm trying. you made it clear what you want. take care. >> so gail, why do people trust in these online relationships? what causes someone to fall in love, for instance, with someone they've only had an online relationship, they've never met person to person? >> we have to realize, first of all, this is a generation that is communicating online in the way that, you know, my

generation, your agageneration communicated in person. it all seems the same to them. and a young person -- it's just not unusual for a young person to believe what they want to believe so that the idea that this person is similar to them, shares an identity, that this fits with their life, you know, you're busy. you're playing ball. you're very absorbed in what is going on but you want someone to be intimate with and share with and someone comes along and to say that they are like you in so many ways is really quite compelling and it's easy for us to say in retrospect, how could he believe this? he came from the other direction. why would someone, you know, try to dupe him? why would someone say who they were and go on in such incredible detail? i don't think it's that shocking and denial is very powerful so when things would come up that

didn't quite fit but you now feel emotionally involved, you want to believe that it's true and your mind can play that kind of trick on you. >> eric, let me clay another clip from katie couric's interview with manti te'o. >> the sports illustrated reporter who wrote your cover story has made some of the transcript of your interview available. he asked you, quote, how did you meet her? and you responded, we met just -- she knew my cousin. later you told him you met at a u is sc game your sophomore year, that you were just friends then. can you see why people would view this as, at worst, as a complete lie and at best as incredibly misleading? >> i can see that. and for that, for people feeling that they are mislead, you know, that i'm sorry for. but i wasn't as forthcoming about it but i didn't lie.

i never was asked, did you see her in person? and through the embarrassment and fear of what people may think, that i was committed to this person who i didn't have the chance to meet and she all of a sudden died, now that scared me. so to avoid any further conversation, i kind of, you know, wasn't as forthcoming as i should have been. >> aren't you splitting hairs here a little bit? didn't you actually say things that weren't true and isn't that, in essence, lying? >> i think the biggest lie that i'm sorry for is the lie i told my dad. when i told dad, when he asked me, hey, you did you see her and i said, no. i mean, yes, i saw her. you know, as a child, your biggest thing is to always get the approval of your parents. >> all right. eric, i know you deal with

damage control for your clients. if he were your client, what would you tell him to do? >> look, the first thing that you do when you get a crisis management client, you have to look where they are on the spectrum between being a villain and being a victim, manti te'o is closer to being a victim. the closer you are to being a victim, the easier it is for to you dig at. the second thing that you look at is the extent to which you have to determine what your goal is. his goal is not to impress katie couric. his goal is to get recruited by the nfl. i think the sin that he committed by lying about feeling foolish, there's no question it's a sin. but there's a difference between a mortal sin. what he has to do at this stage, i think, is consider that less is more. there's no correlation between

how many interviews you do and how well you do. there does come a time, he's made his points, there's something to be said provided that the facts are going his way and they are, to let those facts emerge. the other thing is, four washington redskins have come out and said, something like this has happened to them. so, again, it's trending his way, which suggests that it's time for him to be be quiet. >> let me play one more clip from katie's interview with manti te'o, then we'll discuss. >> this story was working for you. you were being considered for the heisman trophy. it was a huge, huge deal. so did you say, this is my story and i'm sticking to it? was there a part of you saying that. >> part of me was saying, if you say that she's alive, what would everybody think? you know, what are you going to

tell everybody who follow you, who you've inspired? what are you going to say? and at that time, on december 8th, two days after i just found out she's alive, as a 21-year-old, i wasn't ready for that. i didn't even tell my parent yet. i didn't tell anybody. the only one who knew was me. that's all. and i felt like i could not -- i did not know who to turn to. i did not know who to tell. did i not know who to trust. it was a big thing for me and i was scared. that's the truth. i was just scared and i didn't know what to do. >> didn't a part of you just want to tell the truth? >> yeah. and i eventually -- i did to my parents. >> andy, you were there at the heisman trophy award ceremony. he came in number two, as we all know. did you ever suspect anything was wrong there? >> no, i didn't. and, you know, a lot of reporters who weren't on the story and i didn't write the

story for us, the big feature on it. you want to think, oh, i would have gotten that. i would have done the next search or gotten that. it's hard when you're on that deadline and they are giving you such rich detail. i mean, if you read the transcript of his interview with pete, the detail is is vivid and you think, well -- you don't even think it would be untrue. and so right now, manti te'o has to deal with the fact that people feel like he misled them. it's really a no-win situation for him. at best, he's gullible and got duped and isn't very bright. at worst, he's calculating and came up with a story to help him win awards. i don't believe it's that calculated or nefarious but there are people who do and so he's got to rebuild his image so potential people that would sign him to do endorsement deals will say, people can trust this guy again. >> we'll see if he's drafted into the nfl. thanks, guys, for joining us.

appreciate it. manti te'o story is unusual but he's far from the only person to fall for all of this. in fact, he's not only the football player to have fallen for this kind of hoax. and hillary clinton said her testimony was one of her most trying moments in washington. will it be her left, though? my insurance company told me not to talk to people like you. you always do what they tell you? no... try it, and see what your good driving can save you. you don't even have to switch. unless you're scared. i'm not scared, it's... you know we can still see you. no, you can't. pretty sure we can... try snapshot today -- no pressure.

let's talk about secretary of state with donna brazile and editor-in-chief from redstate.com, erick erickson. 5 1/2 hours of q & a from the secretary of state. look at these polls. impression of hillary clinton, favorable, ratings, 67%. unfavorable, 28%. that's very, very high. in contrast, joe biden, the vice president, his favorable rate, 48%. unfavorable, 37%. what should these numbers, erick, tell us about 2016 in the

time between now and if anything? >> i don't know that they should tell us anything, wolf. i'm always cautious about being that far out. remember, 2006 and 2007 hillary clinton was the shoe-in for the democratic nomination. fast forward, if the angst remains and grows between the republican and democratic party about hostility in washington, which they both share for different reasons, i'm not sure that hillary or joe are going to be the fit that the democrats want. they might want someone from outside washington. >> how important was the hearing for the secretary of state, donna? >> i thought it was very important. mrs. clinton has been admired 11 times since 1993. the only time she's been topped is mother teresa and i don't believe you can top mother teresa, god bless her soul. i thought secretary clinton was very clear, concise, combative

at times when clearly she should have been. but she represented our country very well, represented the administration in laying out the facts yesterday clear in the air and hopefully we now know more about what happened to those four americans as a result of her excellent testimony. >> how important was that testimony, erick? >> you know, i think it's pretty important. the republicans still have some questions that i think were left unanswered but she needed to testify if only because she is the secretary of state, this happened on her watch, and i'm sure she wanted to get some answers answered before she walked out the door. >> donna, the president is really are giving the vice president right now a whole lot more responsibility and certainly a whole lot more visibility. what's going on here? do you think he personally, the president, would like to see joe biden succeed him? >> well, i think from day one the president has given the vice

president major responsibilities. as you recall, the middle class tax force, helping with implementation of a stimulus plan and, of course, with just recently with the deal that was worked out with the republicans on the tax cuts and hopefully the fiscal cliff. joe biden is -- when it comes to washington, d.c., he knows this city but knows it in a way that allows him to be as effective as vice president and he's a lea r leader. people trust him. i think joe biden is in an excellent position. so many other democrats who might right now be thinking about 2016. but for me, i'm with eric k. it's too early. i'm thinking about super bowl and mardi gras and a costume. >> chris christie want to be

re-elected. he's the republican. what do you make of this? >> i think it's an interesting dynamic. most people think of silicon valley with the democratic party but often times you see someone who has lived in a state who support the guy who is doing a good job. i think it's a good sign for dom governor christie. >> i don't think it's a good sign. i think it's a great sign. you have mark zuckerberg and trying to get re-elected. >> wolf f. i know he's married but he can friend me. i'll be very friendly to mark. friend me. >> guys, thanks very much. >> thank you. manti te'o is not alone. an apparent hoax involving football players from the washington redskins. [ male announcer ] when we built the cadillac ats from the ground up to be the world's best sport sedan... ♪ ...people noticed. ♪

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if there's any comfort for manti te'o, it could be this. he is not alone. plenty of people have been victim of hoaxes brian todd has this part of the story. >> wolf, according to a new report, a woman led several

washington redskins players to believe she was someone who she was not. she even led them to try to arrange meetings with her. it was about the same time manti te'o claims he first learned his online girlfriend was phony. an indication that other high-profile football players had been te'od. the gist of it was, stay away from @redridnhood. do not converse with this person on any social media platform. she is not who she claims to be. that's according to an article at nfl.com. the memo was posted by phillip daniels, a former redskins' defensive end. daniel was not available to speak with us. daniels told nfl.com that on

multiple occasions several redskins' players tried to arrange meetings with the woman who the report says went by sidney ak customer man. she also wasn't cj miles, the entertainment adult star that they found were ripped off and used in correspondence with the players. there's an unverified twitter feed registered with pictures of a similar looking woman. the tweet there warns people that imposters used her photos. the report says none of the players were successful in arranging meetings with the woman who sent the tweets and that raised suspicions with the redskins. she didn't ask the player for money or perks and didn't threaten them. but a radio analyst says the

communications were fraught with risk. >> it's not the smartest thing to do but you do some things when you are young that are not real bright. the whole internet deal is odd to me. the manti te'o deal to me is ridiculous. >> and players have them coming to them from any direction? >> i assume. it's not my world. i know a lot of guys that are very popular and anybody that believes that pros are chasing ghosts is a damn fool. >> so who is the woman who sent the tweets to the redskins' players? the reporter said they were unable to identify the identity. the woman's twitter and facebook accounts have been deactivated and we have tried to reach cj miles in e-mails and have not heard back. >> is the league trying to go after her in any legal way? >> we asked and the nfl would not comment. speaking with a reporter, neither the league nor the players are going to go after

her legally. we spoke to paul could you went about this. he said until someone tries to defraud you by perpetrating a hoax monetarily, it's not a crime. you can sue them for trauma, pain and suffering, you can do that civilly. as we understand, the league and players are not inclined at this point to go after her legally. >> brian todd, thank you very much. in the next hour, a new phase in what north korea claims it ises confrontation with the united states. plus, a history making change at the pentagon. [ female announcer ] what if the next big thing, isn't a thing at all?

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you're in "the situation room." happening now, the pentagon clears the way for women to serve in combat. critics question whether they can handle all of the physically demanding jobs on the front lines. vowing to carry out a nuclear task and more rocket launches, north korea talks about settling accounts with the united states by force. so how dangerous are its threats? and why is the country's largest civil rights organization fighting new york's efforts to crack down on supersized soft

drinks? we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." american men and women already are fighting and dying together overseas. the defense secretary leon panetta said today it's time for the military to recognize that reality. so the pentagon has ended its long-time policy of barring women from combat. critics question whether women can handle the grueling, physical tasks that come with those roles. chris lawrence has been looking into this for us. what's the latest, wolf? >> when it comes to integrating women, forget about privacy

concerns. sleeping in close quarters, separate bathrooms, never mind that. it's strength and stamina. with a stroke of his pen, defense secretary leon panetta altered the look of the american sword. >> not everyone is going to be able to be a combat soldier but everyone is entitled to a chance. >> panetta officially opened up over 200,000 combat jobs to women. now the question is, can they physically qualify? >> i think that's already been proven. sergeant hunt was in afghanistan and still remembers the six-mile runs in full gear. >> i found that physically taxing to having that pack on my back but i still was able to make the requirement of, you

know, of going that six miles. >> a number of nato countries permit women in combat, like canada, france, germany, and australia. the british do not. the secretary's action technically opens all jobs but the services can still apply for specific exemptions if women are not able to meet specific standards. >> what i worry about is lowering standards, saying that we have people on our team that can't carry their weight. >> they mean that literally. some soldiers are hauling around more than 100 pounds. tank loaders have to lift a shell out of a confined space, spin it around and push it into the breach. a senior defense official says that standard cannot be lowered. officials have identified specific physical requirements for each combat job. next they will turn that information over to scientists who can build physical tests to measure if a man or woman is fit

for the front lines. >> at recruiting stayintions, y can't say lift this ammo and put it in the tank. >> the marines are going to take 400 male marines, 400 female marines and have them perform the physicals tasks for these jobs and come up with some sort of standard physical test that they can use to find out who may be qualified for them. it still remains to be seen how many women will be interested in these very demanding and dangerous jobs and, of course, by the time some of these units are qualified, if they are, the u.s. will be winding down very quickly in afghanistan. wolf? >> let's hope that's true. let's hope that winding down happens very quickly. chris, thanks very much. ryan smith served as a u.s. marine infantry man in iraq. he raised questions about women on the front lines.

he's joining us now along with first-term congresswoman tulsey who served in combat in iraq as well. thank to both of you for joining us. and thanks for your service to the united states. what you wrote in "the wall street journal," yes, a woman is as capable as a man as pulling a trigger but our goal of our nation's war is to fight and win wars. s has the government considered whether introducing women into the above-described situation would have made my unit more or less combat effective? congresswoman, you served in iraq. respond to what ryan just wrote. >> i think this is what is going to be the biggest challenge now that the policy change has been announced, which is getting folks to understand in reality what has already been happening. the contributions that women in uniform have been making in

combat settings, the hardships that they have been dealing with. >> ryan, why do you have such strong feelings that women can't be capable of participating in these combat units? >> wolf, i think people have a mistaken view of what is happening. people assume it's going to be in iraq and afghanistan. but in 2003 it was a mek cannized push. if you had to go to the restroom, hu to pea in a bottle. if you developed disinterry, you had to pooh in a bag inches from your comrade's face. introducing women to that can be

traumatic and humiliating. you don't need to add this other layer. >> ryan, i respect you and thank you for your service. i've been honored to serve with many women who have already operated under these circumstances. this is not something new. women have been operating shoulder to shoulder with men in these types of settings in iraq and afghanistan. some of the things you've described are things that i and friends of mine and people that i have served with have already experienced and i think that's the strength of our military. men and women adapt and overcome because we're there to conduct a mission to serve our country. so all of these other things that are societal norms back home, it doesn't count. you're in combat. >> ryan, we used to hear similar arguments before they allowed african-americans to serve equally with caucuses

caucasians, unit co-heegss and stuff like that. are you afraid that the arguments you're making now have historical recei historical reference? >> no. there's reasons that we have separate lockers and sports teams. it's because it can be traumatizing to be forced to do things that you're uncomfortable with in front of members of the opposite sex. combat is a very hard game and people are being cavalier. it's a life or death game and if we get this wrong, the loser dies. i'm giving this from a grunt's point of view. i was a sergeant on the ground living in these condition cans. i talked to my comrades and they all said we couldn't imagine having a woman in our midst going through these situations. >> congresswoman in. >> i understand where you're coming from ryan and i think

you'll find the opposite is also true. when you talk to folks that have already operated under these situations combat shoulder to shoulder with women, they recognize the unique contributions that having unique skill set at your disposal to conduct a mission, again, i really believe that these things fall to the wayside, as you respect your comrades, regardless of gender, race, religion. it's the strength of our country that allows us to set that aside and put the mission first. >> do you have a problem with gu guys gays serving openly in the combat situations that you're describing? >> no, i don't. everyone keeps their sexuality to themselves. i do not have a problem with gays serving in the military. everyone is there to get the situation accomplished.

>> telsi gabbard, thanks to you as well. both iraq war veterans. six weeks after the massacre at a connecticut school, a new move to ban certain assault-type weapons but even its sponsor admits it will be an uphill fight. officemax can help you drive supply costs down... and down. use your maxperks card and get a 10-ream case of officemax multiuse paper for just 4.99 after maxperks rewards. find thousands of big deals now... at officemax.

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proposed a new ban on some types of assault-type rifles and semiautomatic weapons, the measure replacing a ban that expired in 2004 would prohibit the sale, manufacture, transfer, importation of more than 150 assault-style weapons, ban large capacity magazines with more than ten rounds of ammunition but to appeal to gun owners and excludes or keep legal more handguns along with 2,200 hunting and sporting rifles, victims of gun violence, one after another they told their stories. lilly was shot while in class at virginia tech university. >> i have a bullet still in my head. i was shot in the jaw. it's one inch -- one millimeter away from my brain stem. >> senator feinstein concedes her proposed ban will be tough

to achieve but the california democrat says the time has come. >> since the last assault weapons ban expired in 2004 and, incidentally, in the ten years it was in place, no one took it to court. more than 350 people have been killed with assault weapons. more than 450 have been injured. we should be outraged by how easy it is for perpetrators of these horrific crimes to obtain powerful military-style weapons. >> feinstein's announcement of her new legislation comes three days after the president and his inaugural address promised to make gun control a second-term priority. >> our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of detroit to the hills of ap pa lach cha to the quiet

town of newtown know that they are cared for and cherished and always safe from harm. >> but can the president deliver? how will the politics of guns impact the second-term agenda? john king is joining us. tough questions. can the president, can senator feinstein really deliver on these promises? >> at the moment, the answer is no. she's appealing for help not only inside washington but she says call your congressman, your senator. we'll see if they can succeed. but as bill clinton said, this is about arithmetic. the president didn't touch this in the first term. however, where you have to pass the legislation in congress, watch that today. dianne feinstein has been for these bills for a long time. senator chuck schumer for this issue for a long time. carol mccarthy of new york from the house side of democrat for gun control for a long time. where are the new faces?

people like joe manchin, a democrat, saying look at these things. none are saying, let's pass all these things that the president wants. let's look a map of the democrats. we can show you at least 11 vulnerable democratic incumbents. those are at least 11 democratic seats up in 2014. senator from alaska has said no thank you. montana, max baucus has said, i'm not sure we want to do gun control. republicans are saying that we're going to see what harry reid in the senate does and the expectation is at best he could get a very watered down version. no assault weapons ban, maybe progress on background checks and the republicans around the house, from what they are saying, we'll have our committees look at these issues but we're not going to think about voting on a bill until the

senate proves it can pass something. on this day, we'll see if he can rally public support and change a lot of minds. >> how visible will the president be, the vice president as well? >> that is a big question. will he try to rally public support? we know tomorrow the vice president will be in a gun state, richmond, virginia, and the vice president wants to run for president in 2016. this is political courage on his part. he did the google program today, google hangout they call it. listen here. >> in california everyone talks about the big earthquake or a terrible disaster as the last line of defense. >> well, guess what, a shotgun will keep you a lot safer, a double barrel shotgun than an assault weapon. it's harder to use an assault weapon than it is a shotgun. if you want to keep people away in an earthquake, buy some

shotgun shells. >> colorful from the vice president and he often is colorful. buy a shotgun or shotgun sells, not assault weapons. that's part of the challenge. trying to convince enough people that these assault weapons have no use except for military use. wolf, you know how this works. an issue comes front and center, it tends to fade. if there are no more tragedy, can the president keep the political attention on this? he will have to use the bully pulpit, traveling the country. at the moment, people think he's not going to get anything near his wish list. >> maybe some background checks, ammunition clips, not even assault weapons. >> he and the vice president with the help of the american people if they can rally support, simply on this day the math is not there. >> john, thanks very much. the hoax that inspired the manti te'o case studying notre

dame university but another story that could blind it in more ways than one. sport sedan...ld's bet ♪ ...people noticed. ♪ the all-new cadillac ats -- 2013 north american car of the year. ♪ for a limited time, take advantage of this exceptional offer on the all-new cadillac ats.

notre dame football star manti te'o is speaking out about the infamous hoax and is talking about the pain he felt in the week of his girlfriend's death is real despite she never existed. couric asked about the phone conversation that he had with the alleged perpetrator of the hoax after it had all been revealed. watch this. >> you say he later called you. what did he say to you on the phone? >> he just basically expressed, you know, and just explained what he did and why he did it and -- >> did he say why he did it? >> he didn't say why. he just explained that he just wanted to help people and that was his way of helping people, of being someone that he wasn't and trying to connect with somebody on a different level, too, and help him out. >> and what did you say to him? >> obviously it didn't really help me out. >> the bizarre hoax isn't just

about manti te'o. it's also raising some questions about notre dame university and a football program that has seen controversy before. let's bring in sarah ganim. she has details. >> lizzy died more than two years ago but it's how her parent were treated by notre dame, going to great lengths to protect ppds their own. the story dominated the bcs championship game, how manti te'o grandmother and girlfriend both died that same day. it turns out the girlfriend was a hoax and notre dame admits that they knew that, saying nothing as media ran sympathetic stories. >> the most beautiful girl i ever met. >> the language is inspiring about the pursuit and sharing of truth for it is own sake but it's not the first time the university has been accused of

making the actual mission more about football. >> our experience has been very, very eye-opening and i think corrupting impact of big time college athletics. tom's family is filled with notre dame alumni. >> it felt like betrayal. >> in 2010, his daughter liz zee committed suicide ten days after reporting to police she was sexually assaulted by a notre dame football player. >> she really brought joy to us every day. >> seeberg's story is complicated. she battled anxiety. but her parents say it's no longer what happened in that dorm room, it's how the university handled it. >> it all became clear then that we had been basically jerked around for a couple of months, that we were being played. >> they found out the player was only interviewed by the campus

police and despite a threatening text message, police waited a month to get phone records. they believe now that notre dame never intended to investigate. notre dame declined an interview but said the seeberg family has been, quote, twisted falsely. the university said the debl detective's interview was delayed while he waited for her to prepare a second statement and then later taking her own life. then, in that same season, another tragedy. a student filming a football practice died. notre dame's own investigation and found no one was to blame. two months later, indiana slapped the university with six safety violations and said that staff knew about the high winds. the university was hit with a $77,000 fine.

and now manti te'o, notre dame say it was te'o's decision about when to reveal a personal matter. these events have one thing in common, the way note notre dame responded is protective of their football program. >> the common theme in all of that is notre dame first, image first. it was all about making sure that notre dame's story program was defended. >> kathy runs the coalition against violent athletes, a group she started after she was raped at the university of nebraska in 1999. after lizzy died, the u.s. department of education investigated. notre dame agreed to change its response to sex assaults and is still required to file updates with the government.

>> certainly there could be no criminal proceeding after lizzy's death but there could be hope in a place that has a disciplinary process whose mission is to seek truth. >> as the notre dame mission statement says, truth for its own sake. it's important to say that no one has or ever will be criminally charged in any of these cases. to critics and to the seebergs, this is more about accountability. wolf? >> sara, thanks for that. good information for all of our viewers to digest. will the north try to carry them out? stand by. are easy with free pip from the u.s. postal service. we'll even drop off boxes if you need them. visit usps.com pay, print, and have it picked up for free. any time of year. ♪

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the communist nation plans to carry out a nuclear test and more long-range tests as part of an all-out confrontation with the united states. leon panetta says it's hard to know what north korea is up to. >> we are very concerned with north korea's continuing provocative behavior. we are fully prepared. we remain prepared to deal with any kind of provocation from the north koreans but i hope in the end that they determine that it is better to make a choice to become part of the international family. >> cnn's tom foreman has a closer look at north korea's threats and capability. what are you seeing, tom? >> north korea is saying that they have a right to nuclear program, a right to a space

program, and they are painting the united states as the aggressor here in trying to thwart those programs but it's the last sentence that has attracted so much attention. look at it here. settling accounts with the u.s. needs to be done with force, north korea says, not with words, as it, the united states, regards jungle law as the rule of its survival. so does this mean that north korea is going to start lobbying nuclear test missiles at the united states and, even more importantly, are they even capable of that? the truth is, last december, north korea had its most successful launch to state. it managed to carry a payload of 1300 pounds and travel about 6,000 miles or it is capable of that which would bring it to the coast of carolina. they say all they were trying to do was get a satellite into space. that's all this program was

about. but intel general analysts say they don't believe it. they think the problem is, given time, north koreans could test enough and one day they could swap this out for a nuclear warhead. >> so if you combine, tom, that test with this latest message, does that mean that the u.s. will strike the mainland with a nuclear weapon? >> in a word, wolf, no, it does not. they really are profound. they have to look at the issue of re-entry. the simple fact that you can get a rocket like this up into space, that does not mean that you can bring it back into the atmosphere without it bursting into flames or tearing it apart. secondly, they have to look at targeting. nuclear weapons do not have to be that accurate but you have to have some means of controlling it from the other side of the world and it would be very easy with a bad guidance system for

it to simply splash into the ocean. they would suffer all of the repercussions from agitating the u.s. and its allies into conflict. and lastly, there is the issue of the size of their nukes. there is no indication that the north koreans have created a nuclear weapon small enough to ride on top of these rockets that. is a huge challenge that takes a lot of work. they are not there yet. that's one of the reasons many intelligence analysts are being looking at these very sharp words, wolf, as secretary panetta suggested, you have to be serious about it but it's probably just an empty threat at this point. >> good explanation, tom. thank you. and joining us now, the abc news global affair's anchor, christiane amanpour. how credible are these threats

coming out of north korea? >> they are credible as threats and they hope to make these a deterrent but when it comes to could they actually and do they intend to launch anything against the united states? the consensus is no. not only do they not have the ability to invade, but they don't have the ability on long-range missiles and they are not considered to have the ability to put a nuclear warhead on a missile. the problem, of course, is that the u.s. does not want to see any more of these nuclear tests. it would be the third in the last seven years and despite sanctions, which have been ratcheting up over the last several year, the fact that they can't launch rockets as they did last month shows that the sanctions are not fully working. so it really is a bit of a worry, of course. >> i want you to listen to what senator marco rubio, a member of the senate committee, what he said today at the hearing with john kerry. >> north korea announced that they are developing a weapon

that can reach the united states of america and i think the bush administration was wrong to remove north korea from the list of states sponsored terrorism and i hope we'll reverse that. >> you were there about five years ago when the relationship at least seemed to be improving. and what about under the young leader jim jong-un. he has come into office and has been there nearly a year now and has followed his father's hard line, military force, pulling rockets, missile, satellite, nuclear program into their military program. and that is a bit of a worry. also people who are trying to figure out which way to go forward, it looks like he's trying to prove himself as a

young leader and he is young and has old military around him and he's trying to project himself on the world stage. so i think the interesting thing will be is there any hope of resumption of the u.s., china, japan, those talks with north korea and what will be the effect of the south korean president. she has said that she's interested in, again, trying to have a better relationship with the north. it was a relationship that was completely broken off under her predecessor who took a hard line. >> a lot of people think that kim jong-un is doing all of these provocative things to establish his credibility with the military back in north korea. do you buy that? >> well, probably. i mean, i think that people are seeing that he's been there for about a year now and that he

does need to sort of stand tall on the stage. but also he's actively pursing his father's policy. i must say, having been there five years ago now t. is a dramatic change because then there was a thaw for a year they moth balled their nuclear program. we saw that an agreement between the united states and north korea that they were literally dismantling it. the plutonium extraction plant that created this material. they were wrapping it up, moving their things into storage, a few months later we were invited to watch them blow up their signature cooling tower from that nuclear plant and than kim jong-il grew ill and it hasn't regained that footing at all. that's clearly where the u.s. wants to and needs to get back to. >> christiane amanpour, as usual, thanks very much. >> thank you, wolf. a tough former prosecutor is

named the watch dog on wall street. and lance armstrong faces a new lawsuit. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." when you hear some of the stories that people tell you about their experiences in iraq and afghanistan, the variety of things that affect people are unimaginable. i was having a hard time sleeping, having a lot of nightmares and just memories and flashes and they diagnosed me with posttraumatic stress. >> what we do is have the person go over their memory as if it was happening again but they are in a safe environment. >> they say it looks like a video game but when you put the goggles on, it brings you to the same scenario. >> you put on the sounds, the sound of wind. >> and we can blow stuff up. >> therapy has been effective. i was never a fan of prolonged exposure and that kind of thing

because it's an uncomfortable thing. >> at its core, therapy has to induce some level of anxiety so that you're processing hard memories. i'm skip, clinical psychologist at the university of california institute for creative technologies. let's go. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing the all-new cadillac xts... another big night on the town, eh? ...and the return of life lived large. ♪ humans. even when we cross our t's and dot our i's, we still run into problems.

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president obama's named a tough former federal prosecutor to head the security and exchange commission. that was part of mary jo white's turf as well. our joe johns has a look at this pretty impressive woman. >> that's right, wolf. the president has been criticized for not going after wall street and he's named one of the toughest legal bulldogs anywhere to take care of the financial business. she's small in stature but larger than life in the legal world. president obama wants mary jo white to lead the securities & exchange commission. >> you don't want to mess with mary jo. she does not intimidate easily. >> her early claim to fame was the successful prosecution of

john gatti of the crime family. jeffrey toobin, a former prosecutor himself, worked alongside white. >> mary jo combines really impressive intellectual distinction with street smarts. she knows which juries will like and how to allocate the resources to the most important cases. >> today she's best known for her dogged pursuit of terrorists as the first u.s. attorney to head for a southern district. >> the message that stands and i hope it's unmistakable, we will not tolerate terrorism in this country. >> white got attention for high-profile terrorists in the 1993 world trade center bombing, even inditing president obama for bombings before 9/11.

her office prosecuted terrorists back in the 1990s. >> we did that because we perceive this to be a long-term danger. >> now the president has asked her to be the sheriff of wall street. >> the s.e.c., a long and vital force for the markets has a lot of hard and important work ahead of it. >> that hard work may also include having the last word on the excesses of wall street and the financial turmoil of the past five years. >> one of the great unanswered questions of this era in law enforcement is why weren't any of the people responsible for the tremendous financial collapse of this country ever prosecuted? i think we will now know that if she doesn't do it, no one could have. >> that's a big change from what white's been doing in private practice, defending high-profile wall street clients in trouble

with the law like gupta and ken lewis. mary jo white has been in private practice for about a decade defending high-profile clients on wall street, some critics saying it could create conflicts of interest at the s.e.c. >> i think she also worked and represented our parent company time warner as well. >> that's correct. >> i want to make that clear as well. she's going to be tough at the s.e.c. >> that's right. >> thank you very much, joe johns. democratic senator john kerry of massachusetts is one step closer to being confirmed as the next secretary of state. kate bolducan is here. >> the long-time senator testified before the senate foreign relations committee, the panel he chaired for four years. he was praised by hillary clinton, mccain, and elizabeth

warren. also, sunday it will cost you another penny to put a letter in the mail. a regular stamp will cost 46 cents. the raise comes as the postal service is barring billions of dollars from taxpayers to stay afloat. it could be at least june before they determine whether criminal charges will be pursued. during the first meeting of the connecticut special advisory panel, the lead investigator said that prosecution is not on the horizon but it's still unclear who would potentially be charged. the panel's initial report on the shooting is due in march. and days after lance armstrong's chilling doping confession, the latest in what could be scores of lawsuits has been filed. the california class-action suit has been brought by readers of armstrong's books accusing the

disgraced bicyclists peddling lies. >> just beginning. >> oh, yeah. >> he's got a lot of money. we'll see how much he winds up with. >> how much he has at the end of it. new york's ban on soda has drawn its share of critics but one that knows how to fight for its rights. [ woman ] my boyfriend and i were going on vacation,

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more bad news on wall street for apple, whose shares plunged more than 12%, amid forecasts showing slowing demand for popular products like the iphone. the company's stock has dropped in value by over $200 billion over the last four months. netflix, on the other hand, was the star performer on the s&p 500 today. shares in the online video rental giant jumped more than 42% on the heels of yesterday's shocking profit. the world of home entertainment is changing so fast, it's almost impossible to keep up. it wasn't that long ago that most of us watched movies on vhs, tapes from the local video store, or listened to music on records and cassettes and cds.

now it seems, even the dvd, yes, even the dvd could soon be a thing of the past. here's cnn's dan simon. >> reporter: wolf, at one time, it seemed like there was a blockbuster video on every corner. now they're getting tough to find. the company announced that it's shutting down 300 stores. that's on top of the 500 stores it shut down last year. but there may be a larger story here. physical media. it seems to be on its last legs. from vhs tapes to dvds, blockbuster defined a generation of technology and home entertainment. drop by one of its remaining stores, and you can still find some loyalists, like lester yee. >> sometimes i'll keep it for a few days and watch it again, bring it to my friend's house and watch it. >> reporter: but the last several years have not been pretty for anything that represents physical media. from cds to dvds to games to books, digital distribution has

steadily eroded physical sales, causing some traditional brick and mortar chains to go under. borders books, gone, tower records, gone, blockbuster video, a shadow of what it used to be. >> in terms of pure consumption in volume, we've already hit the stage that consumers are watching more movies digitally than they are physically. that actually happened in 2012. >> reporter: netflix, amazon, itunes, hulu, youtube, and on-demand video have redefined our viewing experiences. plus, computers from apple and others are ditching the dvd drive all together. so are we witnessing the last breath of physical media? maybe, but analysts like dan cryon say it could take years to actually happen, noting that film studios still earn more revenue from hard copies. >> the overall trend, if you will, is that the money is following consumption relatively slowly. because there is a higher cost, higher value per transaction when you go out and rent a disc than when you watch something on

netflix. >> and redbox, the kiosk dvd s by business, is continuing to have success. but in 2012, digital streaming was expected to go up 135% and keep climbing. today's youth may not immediately recognize this, the cassette, and those born today probably won't know what a dvd is. but for some, there will always be something of a nostalgia factor. whether it's a preference for old-fashioned vinyl records or actual books as opposed to ereaders. but this local bookstore chain in san francisco is booking the trend. the ceo says they're thriving. >> everybody can get the books, but the staffs that we have, really, and the readers that we have that are working with the public, that's the difference. that's a different factor we have. >> reporter: nonetheless, it's been two years since amazon announced that kindle books began outselling physical copies. blockbuster has gotten into the streaming business, but what are the lessons of its struggling

retail operation? well, it means that nothing lasts forever. just ask kodak and polaroid, iconic brands of yesteryear, surpassed by better technologies. wolf? >> dan, thanks very much. surprising new allies in the proposal for new york's new ban on supersized drinks. that's next. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ female announcer ] nothing gets you going quite like the power of quaker oats. today is going to be epic. quaker up. [ male announcer ] when we built the cadillac ats from the ground up to be the world's best sport sedan... ♪ ...people noticed. ♪

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the senate has some powerful new allies in trying to get new york city from banning those supervised drinks. mary snow is in new york with details. mary? >> wolf, they're groups known for fighting discrimination, not whether sugary drinks over 16 ounces should be served in new york city. but as new york gets closer to imposing a ban in march, they decided to speak up. the fight to ban large soda and sugary drinks in new york city is getting some high-profile, but unlikely support. one of the nation's oldest civil rights group is taking a stand in support of beverage companies. the new york chapter of the naacp is backing a lawsuit filed to try and stop the city. hazel dukes is the new york chapter president. >> it's not about race. >> reporter: it's about? >> economic disparity, and how the small business is being

punished while we allow the big corporate people, again, to have their own way. >> reporter: convenience stores like 7-eleven are exempt. the naacp argue that small and minority-owned businesses will feel a disproportionate impact. then there's the obesity epidemic. plaque non-hispanic blacks have the highest rate at 44% followed by mexican-americans at 39%. they filed a legal brief saying to tackle the public health crisis of obesity, it's developed a holistic, educational program called project ethhealth. the funding for that project, according to the naacp's website the coca-cola foundation, the philanthropic arm of the company. duke says the new york chapter received $75,000 in the past two

years. there's a conflict? >> absolutely not. if this is the first time that coca-cola had given us money, sure, it would raise questions, but it's not the first time. coca-cola has been supporting naacp nationally and locally for years, not only here in new york state, but all over the country. >> reporter: the hispanic federation also says it received $75,000 from coke for this year. the organization's president also left last year to work for coca-cola. a spokesman for hf says those factors had no impact on its decision to file the legal brief. as for the city, when asked to comment on the beverage industry's latest allies, it said in a statement, "the obesity crisis impacting the nation and disproportionately affecting minorities calls for bold action and we are confident support will grow as more people learn about the unique impact sugary drinks have on this epidemic." >> we reached out to coca-cola for comment. they referred us directly to the

american beverage association, which says, it's not surprised to be gaining more support. it believes the city's board of health overstepped its authority, which is why the lawsuit was filed. wolf? >> mary, thank you. happening now, a senator who experienced a horror of bullets and blood launches a new fight to ban military-style weapons. notre dame football star manti te'o says his girlfriend may have been a phony, but his emotions were real. the revealing interview. we're learning that pro-football players also have been duped by a woman pretending to be someone else. a newly re-elected congresswoman quits, sparking outrage about special interests and big money. and we'll take you inside the investigation of the dreamliner, boeing's new plane has even more problems. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."

these are the faces that advocates of the new assault weapons ban want us all to remember. the 26 children and teachers gunned down at the sandy hook elementary school almost six weeks ago. and these are the guns they want to get off the streets. the legislation unveiled today marks the first major test of whether the newtown, connecticut, massacre was indeed a turning point in the national debate over gun control. let's bring in our chief congressional correspondent, dana bash. dana, one senator in particular is on a personal mission to get this measure passed. >> reporter: that's right. of all of the gun control items that president obama proposed last month, earlier this month, i should say, this is going to be the toughest to pass through congress, reviving the assault weapons ban, which expired about a decade ago, almost. but it is because this particular senator is on a

personal mission, based on a tragedy that happened four decades ago. for dianne feinstein, it's personal. >> i became mayor as a product of assassination. >> both mayor moscone and supervisor harvey milk have been shot and killed. >> reporter: the death of her colleagues, including harvey milk, the first openly gay public official in america, was so traumatic, she rarely discusses it. you are somebody who was very close to a tragic shooting. but here at the launch of her push to renew the assault weapons ban, she answered in graphic detail. >> i was the one that found supervisor milk's body, and i was the one that put a finger in a bullet hole, trying to get a pulse. once you have been through one of these episodes, once you see what the crime scene is like, it isn't like the movies.

it changes your view of weapons. >> reporter: she put on an elaborate event, even getting special permission from d.c. and capitol police to display ten different types of assault weapons, including an ar-15, the kind of rifle the shooter used to murder children in newtown. >> assault weapons were designed for, and should be used on our battle fields. not on our streets. >> the proposed legislation would prohibit the sale, manufacture, transfer, and importation of more than 150 assault-style weapons. and ban large-capacity magazines with more than ten rounds of ammunition. but to appeal to gun owners, it excludes or keeps legal most handguns and 2,200 hunting and sporting rifles. >> how are you going to go hunting with something like that? there'd be nothing left to eat. >> reporter: and lily was shot

in german class at virginia tech. >> i have a bullet still in my head. i was shot in the jaw. it's one inch, one millimeter away from my brain stem. >> reporter: still, feinstein is realistic about the slim chance this assault weapons ban has of passing. >> if anyone asked today, can you win this, the answer is, we don't know, it's so uphill. >> but pushing gun control is now a white house campaign style effort, and vice president joe biden held a social media town hall, a google hangout to rally support. >> make your voices heard. this outfit, this town listens when people rise up and speak. >> reporter: the white house and feinstein know their biggest hurdle is convincing skeptical fellow democrats from gun rights states to support gun control. >> the measure to democrats is see what your silence does? there will be more of these. >> reporter: and that is such an important point to underscore, wolf, that a big part of the

problem for diane finestein and other sponsors is their fellow democrats. at least half a dozen, maybe more, have told us that they just don't see themselves supporting it, because of the opposition in their states, and from the nra. in fact, the nra released a statement today, saying feinstein is, quote, once again focused on curtailing the constitution instead of protecting criminals or fixing the broken mental health system. and it went on to say that they're confident that congress will reject senator feinstein's wrongheaded approach. >> an uphill fight for dianne feinstein. thanks very much, dana, for that. and kate has some new information about a story. >> a very interested day in this convoluted tale, as heisman trophy runner-up, manti te'o, is trying to explain to the world why he lied about falling in love with woman who doesn't

exist. te te'o's extended interview about the scam just aired with katie couric. he was very emotional at tiles, george. >> kate, it was an interesting interview. at first, he insisted that he did not lie about it. then he backed off that a bit and admitted that he did, kind of, sort of. but throughout the interview with katie couric, he insisted that he really believed that his girlfriend was real. that is, until he realized that he had been duped. then he didn't know what to say about it. in his first televised interview since the scandal broke, notre dame star linebacker manti te'o spoke to katie couric about the online girlfriend he'd never met face to face, a woman we now know never existed. >> manti, did you have any involvement in creating this scam? >> no. i did not. for people feeling that they're misled, for that, i'm sorry for. but i wasn't as forthcoming

about it, but i didn't lie. you know, i never was asked, did you see in person? >> te'o says he had every reason to think that lennay committkeka real person. in december, the story changed. >> i got the call on december 6th, saying that she was alive. and from december 6th to january 16th, my whole reality was that she was dead and all of a sudden she's alive. at that time, i didn't know that it was just somebody's prank. >> at the heisman trophy ceremony, you were interviewed, and you repeated the story that your girlfriend had, in fact, died of cancer. that's a lie, why would you say that? >> at that time, i didn't know. to be honest with you. like, i did not know.

>> reporter: te'o admitted he briefly lied to the press, keeping with the narrative that his girlfriend had died within hours of his grandmother's death. couric asked for proof of an intimate relationship and te'o provided hundreds of hours of phone records, even voice mail. >> but i just wanted to say i love you and good night, and i'll be okay tonight. i'll do my best. um, yeah, so get your rest and i'll talk to you tomorrow. i love you so much. sweet dreams. >> you have no idea who the voice on the other end of the phone was? do you think that might have been a man on the other end of the phone? >> well, it didn't sound like a man. it sounded like a woman. but if, but if he somehow made that voice, that's incredible. >> reporter: deadspin.com

uncovered the scam, revealed that the identity of lennay kekua was entirely made up. it was actually the identity of diane o'meara, a marketing executive who'd never met te'o. >> so she's a real person, right? >> right, she's real, they've met her, they've seen her. so this girl was in the pictures, and this girl i'm talking to must be the same. >> reporter: both te'o and o'meara apparently knew this man, ronaiah tuiasosopo. ronaiah even offered pictures, but didn't realize they were being used for a false identity. te'o says that tuiasosopo called him to admit his part in the hoax. tuiasosopo has not made a public statement since it all began. >> what would you say to this person you claim was responsible, ronaiah, what would you say if you could meet him again, face to face? >> i would just say, you hurt me. and you hurt me only because you

hurt my family. but other than that, i would say, draw you nearer to your family, because that's exactly what i did. >> so throughout this interview, te'o admitted that there were signs, for instance, when he would try to see his girlfriend, she wasn't available. when they would try to skype, he couldn't see her, but she could see him. so, you know, the questions, was he duped? was he part of the hoax? he insists that he wasn't. or was this a situation where he wanted to believe something so badly, that he would frankly believe anything. kate, these are the questions that a lot of people are asking after watching that interview. >> they sure are. and even his father said, he's just a kid. that poor kid. that's for sure. george howell, thank you so much, george. what a wild story, wolf. of course, athletes aren't the only ones at risk of being scammed. if you're looking for love online, you may, repeat, may be vulnerable. cnn's deborah feyerick has that part of the story. deb, explain what's going on hear. >> you know, wolf, a lot of people out there have their hearts broken when they realize they're having a relationship with phantom, a fraud, a phony,

someone who never really existed in the first place. as crazy as it sounds, what apparently happened to notre dame football player manti te'o happens every day. >> doctors, lawyers, law enforcement. i mean, people who are really smart. >> reporter: private investigator dawn ricci says she's spoken to hundreds of men and women who get conned after falling deeply in love online. what is it they're hoping for? >> everyone just wants to feel needed and loved and find that romance, the wonder, the excitement of it all. the scammer just knows how to pull them into it. >> reporter: it's called catfishing, a term popularized by the 2010 film "catfish," about a man who has an online love affair with the ideal woman, who turns out not to exist. it's a scam built on trust, one e-mail, one text, one phone call at a time over months, or in

manti te'o's case, perhaps years. >> he fell in love with a fictional character. i mean, just a thought. like, a fantasy in his head. >> reporter: ricci believes that te'o is like many of her clients, the target of a cruel hoax. >> the bottom line is that there's money. they'll always ask for money. >> reporter: ricci says she's had clients send tens of thousands of dollars to pay outstanding bills, or buy expensive gifts like airline tickets, jewelry, in one case, a new bmw. te'o told espn he never gave money to his so-called girlfriend, but admits she wanted to send him money and asked for his checking account number. he says he refused to give it. >> it's very hard for people to accept the fact that this person doesn't exist. nothing's going to match up. phone numbers aren't going to match up, addresses aren't going to match up. i mean, you can send me to an address, and it's not going to be the person. >> reporter: in most cases, once the money drys up, the scammer

disappears. in manti te'o's case, his girlfriend faked her death. >> my clients are truly embarrassed of what has happened to them in their life. they don't want to talk to their friends, their family. they've depleted their bank account. they feel completely humiliated. >> reporter: humiliated and left facing questions, how could it happen in the first place. and you know, it happens pretty easily. scammers will search dating websites, which are hugely popular, but there's also facebook and twitter or social media sites that give strangers access to you. this is a con and the person on the other end becomes the person you need, your ideal, and it may mean stealing somebody else's photo, somebody else's life. but face-to-face meetings, they are not going to happen. and as the private eye says, it's not really a date if you can't touch them or see them. and by the way, te'o tried skyping this girl so he could see her face to face, guess what, she claimed her skype was broken. kate, wolf? >> the important information is, just be really, really careful out there. that's what you've got to be.

>> reporter: absolutely. because they know how to make a profile that will be so attractive that you can't even resist them. >> deborah feyerick, thanks very much. still ahead, the desperate scramble to escape syria's civil war. members of bashar al assad's own family on the run. plus, one of america's most successful companies isn't worth what it used to be. apple's plunging stock, ahead. [ male announcer ] don't just reject convention. drown it out. introducing the all-new 2013 lexus ls f sport. an entirely new pursuit.

the slaughter in syria continues. even as the syrian's strongman, bashar al assad, seen in public today, celebrating the birthday of the prophet muhammad, while he clings to power and more blood is spilt all across syria. we have new information about the fate of his own family. cnn's ivan watson is joining us

now from the turkey/syria border. ivan, you've had some exclusive opportunities today to speak with the u.s. ambassador to syria, who's obviously no longer in damascus. what did he tell you? >> reporter: well, he answered a riddle that a lot of us have wondered about, the whereabouts of the former spokesman for the syrian foreign ministry, jihad, who disappeared years ago. and ambassador robert ford said he's in fact now in the u.s., not cooperating with the u.s. government, but actually a refugee there. so one of the spokesman for the regime has fled to the u.s., according to the u.s. ambassador, to syria. and ambassador ford also gave us some tantalizing glimpses about the family of the embattled syrian president, himself, his mother, aknneanissa. take a listen. what is this news about the president's mother left the

country? >> yeah. >> when did that happen? >> i'm not watching her passport, ivan, i don't know when she got there. but that's where she is. >> dubai? >> well, i should say united arab emirates. what does that tell us about the cohesion of the syrian government right now. >> as the pressure builds, they, themselves know that they are losing, when he met him last december in his office, he told us that you could hear artillery outside the president's office. i mean, the fighting is getting that close now to the inner circle itself. and so you can imagine what that does to their own spirits, their own moral. >> reporter: now, wolf, this is a fight that is still dragging on, more than 100 people being killed today. the syrian army is losing ground, but at the rate it's egoing, tens of thousands more people could be killed before he has to truly evacuate his

palace. wolf? >> you've also been talking, ivan, to syrian refugees, who say they're very frustrated right now with the united states. how come? . >> reporter: well, the answer you get from refugees outside the country, from syrians we've talked to over past week, inside syria, they're saying, where is the u.s. help? if the u.s. doesn't want to provide weapons to overthrow bashar al assad, where is the humanitarian assistance, and ambassador ford got an earful today, wolf, from refugees in a refugee camp he visited here in turkey. we watched him, and some of them arguing, wolf, if the u.s. isn't helping overthrow bashar al assad, then that must mean they want him to stay. he heard from him. take a listen to an excerpt from our interview. >> do you think the u.s. government could have been done more? >> i think the syrians, as i said, are the one who is will bring the answer to the problem.

just as in iraq, iraqis brought the solution to the iraq crisis, to the iraq war. the americans can help, and we helped in iraq, but ultimately, it wasn't the americans, despite our help, it was iraqis. in syria, again, it has to be syrians who find their way forward. >> reporter: now, wolf, the u.s. has already pledged $210 million in assistance to the 2.6 million syrians who have been displaced by the conflict. it's clearly not enough. there's going to be a donor's conference in kuwait that ambassador ford will be attending to try to attract some more money to it. this problem is enormous and it continues to grow, and sadly, it's not new. there's clearly not enough help for these desperate people fleeing this conflict. wolf? >> ivan watson on the scene for us along the border with syria in turkey. thank you. so many people, you, me, so many people have iphones and macs and ipads, so the real

question here, why is the price of apple stock plunging? find out, ahead. right in the old bucket. good toss! see that's much better! that was good. you had your shoulder pointed, you kept your eyes on your target. let's do it again -- watch me. just like that one... [ male announcer ] the durability of the volkswagen passat. pass down something he will be grateful for. good arm. that's the power of german engineering. ♪ back to you.

it's been a rather punishing day for shareholders of one of the world's best known

companies. kate's here. she's got that, some of the day's other top stories. not good news for apple. >> no. a punishing day, indeed, wolf. apple stock lost more than 12% of its value today, even though the company just reported record-breaking quarterly profits. we asked cnn's alison kosik, what's going on? >> to put it in perspective, apple reported record profits and sold 48 million iphones in the most recent quarter. it sold almost 23 million ipads in three months. and it even sold 12.6 million ipods. so that's really nothing to sneeze at. but wall street clearly was unhappy with it. that's why you're seeing how the shares ended today, more than 12% lower, because part of it is the old mantra, buy low, sell high. and part of the reason why you've been seeing the stock price fall since september, is because for many investors, they bought shares when they were lower and they wanted to take a profit before those higher capital gains taxes kicked in at the beginning of the year. now, what's happening today is investors are choosing to get

out of the stock now, because competition is becoming more of a factor. >> also today, both at&t and verizon announced record iphone sales in the fourth quarter. we'll be watching that closely tomorrow. in chicago today, a judge sentenced a pakistani american man to 35 years in prison for helping with the 2006 mumbai terror attacks. david headily admitted he was conducting advanced surveillance for the attack, which killed 164 people. prosecutors agreed to not seek the death penalty in this case in exchange for his plea. here's an interesting one for you. facebook founder mark zuckerberg is getting political. he's facing a fund-raiser next month for chris christie, who's up for re-election this year. a facebook spokesperson says that zuckerberg and his wife admire the governor's leadership on education reform and other issues, but that's definitely an interesting political relationship. >> chris christie, mark zuckerberg, very interesting. >> yeah. >> you want mark zuckerberg backing your re-election.

>> i think he's got some cash to help you out. >> thank you. all the time and effort to get re-elected, now this. we have an estimate on what it cost taxpayers for a united states congresswoman to call it quits. that's only one reason her decision is sparking outrage. to pick up some accessories.rd a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? and with all the points i've been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend. ♪ things are definitely looking up. [ male announcer ] with no blackout dates, you can use your citi thankyou points to travel whenever you want. visit citi.com/thankyoucards to apply. to travel whenever you want. iimagine living your life withss less chronic low back pain.. imagine you with less pain. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is fda-approved to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain. one non-narcotic pill a day, every day, can help reduce

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not a secret here in washington, there's a revolving door between congress and the lobbying world, and that's raising all sorts of ethical questions once again. >> yeah, and it always has. one congresswoman's decision to quit right after her re-election is putting a very bright light on the halls of power and the influence of special interests and big money.

here's drew griffin of cnn's investigative unit. >> reporter: she may be the perfect example of what washington critics call the revolving door syndrome. >> congresswoman? congresswoman emerson, it's drew griffin with cnn. >> reporter: which could explain why all we got from congresswoman joanne emerson was the slam door treatment. the southeast missouri republican is quitting congress. not because she lost. in fact, she just won her last election to her tenth term, by a landslide. she's quitting because she landed a job back in what you might call the real family business, the politics of influencing congress. follow the lineage. in the '70s, jo ann emerson, a washington, d.c. native, married a lobbyist named bill emerson. when lobbyist bill emerson went on to become congressman from missouri, jo ann went on to become a lobbyist for the restaurant industry. when he died of cancer in 1996,

she took her seat and she's served nine terms since then. and while the combined emersons were spending 32 years in the congress, they were raising two daughters, both of whom who are now registered lobbyists. now, congresswoman emerson goes back to a trade association, directing a team of lobbyists. >> it's the personification of the revolving door. >> reporter: kathy kiley will the sunlight foundation says it's a revolving door of lobbyists and politicians and staff members and big payoff jobs that erode america's faith in a system that seems to be driven by special interest access and money. >> when people have the impression that those special interests are dominating washington and the way things work here, it reduces people's faith in their government. and it probably should. >> reporter: technically speaking, jo ann emerson is not becoming a lobbyist, at least not yet. she has been named the new ceo of the national rural electorate

cooperative association. she will direct a group that has a staff of lobbyists, that spent $3.5 million handing out campaign contributions in the last election, and has spend many more millions lobbying congress. her predecessor was paid $1.6 million a year. that predecessor, a former congressman himself, and a registered lobbyist. glen english. >> so this organization must value your participation in congress more than your ceo experience, when you came in, and that's the same thing with her. >> oh, i think so. i think that's probably true. i think the membership recognizes out there that one of the very important functions of this organization, of course, is making sure that we're well represented within congress. >> reporter: jo ann emerson is one of five members of congress leaving office in 2013 to become part of the lobbying/influence

community in d.c. one of them, north carolina's heath shuler, was asked about that back in december. >> are you planning to become a lobbyist? >> no. >> reporter: despite that assertion, he's taken a job as senior vice president of federal affairs for duke energy. technically, this freshman crop of brand-new lobbyists won't be able to lobby congress officially for two years, which is in the bizarre world of loophole washington, making them all the more valuable. >> they're still in the influence business, but they're not registered lobbyists, which, in fact, enhances their influence. >> reporter: in fact, official registered lobbyists are so concerned about all these unregistered influencers, that the american league of lobbyists wants to impose new rules, especially aimed at former members of congress, who can still use the congressional gym, walk on to the house floor, or use all their past contacts to, well, influence. so what does the congresswoman have to say about all of this?

that's what brings us back to the halls of the raeburn congressional office building. the congresswoman agreed to talk to us in washington monday at 5:00. then a few days later, she backed out. her aide telling us the congresswoman just didn't think it was such a good idea. leaving us to have to come to washington, to the halls of congress, to play the bad guy, staking out congresswoman jo ann emerson, just to try to get a comment. and about 5:00 monday, there she was, emerging from an elevator. congresswoman. congresswoman emerson, it's drew griffin with cnn. can you give us fif minutes, congresswoman? congresswoman emerson? and there she went into her soon to be vacated office. so we waited. can you tell us why you're leaving congress? can you tell us why after you won an election pretty well, why would you leave congress to take basically a lobbying job? congresswoman? back in missouri, the state now must hold a special election to

fill the seat jo ann emerson is walking away from. that will cost taxpayers nearly $1 million. >> and drew is joining us right now. drew, you've been talking with the governor's office in missouri. will jo ann emerson have to, at least, pay the state of missouri the $1 million it will take to have to hold a special election? not unless she sends in a gift. we don't see anything that says that she has to pay or reimburse the stake. the governor actually wants to make sure the military overseas can vote, he had to set the election for june 4th, so this district in missouri is going to be without representation in congress for the next six months. >> and, drew, you know, there's nothing illegal about what she did, which is why this is so interesting and always is, but why are, are you getting any information of why the congresswoman didn't quit before the election, if she knew she

was leaving? >> if she knew, kate, and that is the big question, she filed a records with the house committee on this nine days after the election to tell them she's negotiating or in negotiations for this job. we've been trying to ask her how long has she known she's been a candidate for this job. she won't answer any of those questions. obviously, did she know beforehand? an aide said, look, this opportunity just popped up. that's really a stretch for me to believe, given that this is such a haigh-paying, high-profie job, to a group who's been one of her biggest donors. >> when you say high-paying, certainly a lot more than she makes as a united states congresswoman. and i know she's no longer a congresswoman, but do you know how much she's going to be making? >> you're right on both counts, she resigned tuesday night as of midnight. she was going to be paid as a congresswoman $174,000. we don't know exactly what she's going to make, wolf, but her predecessor, the congressman she is replacing, made $1.6 million.

so, roughly ten times what a congresswoman would have made had she fulfilled her duty and stayed in congress. >> and as you say, you've been trying all these days to get at least some comment from her or her office. nothing yet, right? >> nothing at all. we even agreed to go to missouri at one point, because she said she was there. she told us, no, just meet us in washington. we'll have time for you in washington. well, we got the time of day in washington. >> drew, thanks very much for that report. drew griffin reporting. a groundbreaking moment for women in the united states military. who will soon be fighting on the front lines in combat? can they meet the standard? stand by. it's lots of things. all waking up. ♪ becoming part of the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. ♪ trees will talk to networks will talk to scientists about climate change.

cars will talk to road sensors will talk to stoplights about traffic efficiency. the ambulance will talk to patient records will talk to doctors about saving lives. it's going to be amazing. and exciting. and maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. the next big thing? we're going to wake the world up. ♪ and watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. ♪ cisco. tomorrow starts here.

president obama says the american military is growing even stronger with the new decision to allow women to serve in direct combat roles. >> and the official announcement was made at the pentagon today. it opens new doors to women in uniform, if, if they can physically do the job. let's bring in our pentagon correspondent, chris lawrence. they made it official today, chris. >> yeah, exactly, wolf. and you can pretty much forget about privacy issues, where troops sleep or go to the

bathroom. sources tell me, the biggest obstacles to putting women in artillery, armor, and infantry positions are strength and stamina. with a stroke of his pen, defense secretary leon panetta altered the look of the american sword. >> not everyone is going to be able to be a combat soldier. but everyone is entitled to a chance. >> reporter: panetta officially opened well over 200,000 combat jobs to women. now the question is, can they physically qualify? >> i think that it's already been proven. >> reporter: sergeant jennifer hunt was attached to an infantry battalion in afghanistan. she still remembers the six-mile runs in full gear. >> i just found that physically taxing to have that pack on my back, but i still was able to, you know, make the requirement of, you know, of going that six miles. >> a number of nato countries

permit women in combat, like canada, france, germany, and australia. the british do not. the secretary's action technically opens all jobs, but the services can still apply for specific exemptions, if women are not able to meet certain physical standards. >> the concern i get when i talk to soldiers is really about lowering standards, saying that we have people on our team that can't carry their share of the weight. >> reporter: in the military, they mean that literally. some soldiers are armored down with loaded plates, packs, boots, and equipment and they're hauling around more than 100 pounds. tank loaders have to lift a 40 to 50-pound shell out of a confined space, spin it around, and push it into the breach. a senior defense official says that standard cannot be lowered. officials have identified specific physical requirements for each combat job. next, they'll turn that job over to scientists who can build physical tests to measure if a man or woman is fit for the front lines. >> at recruiting stations, you

can't say, here, lift a 54-pound ammo shell and put it in a tank. >> yeah, not in a recruiting office, at least. for example, next summer, 400 male marines and 400 female marines will go out and perform various physical tasks relating to specific combat jobs. the marines are then going to use that information and those results to come up with sort of a fitness standard. but if no women or even very few can do those tasks, then the marines have to, quote, go back to the drawing board. wolf, kate? >> andist k isis isist chris, on of the marine corps, the marine corps has been the most reluctant, if you will, to go along with this. but they're on board now, yeah? >> they are to the extent that the base requirements are not going to change. you know, the senior marine corps official was saying, look, if you want to be a tanker, you've got to be able to lift that 50-pound shell in very tight quarters, spin it around, put it into the breach. that is the basic function of a

tanker. that can't change. so if you're going to be a tanker, you've got to be able to do that. now, he says, you know, for certain other jobs, do you need to be able to run "x" number of miles in exactly this many minutes and seconds? there may be some leeway there. >> chris lawrence, history unfolding at the u.s. department of defense. appreciate it very much. >> yeah, thanks, chris. you may never know who would be vulnerable to being duped online. we're going to tell you how players on the washington redskins were targeted. [ dad ] find it?

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manti te'o's father broke down on tv, saying his son wasn't a liar, he's just a kid who thought his girlfriend was real, until they found out it was all a hoax. >> and as te'o's family opens up, we're learning his strange story is more common than you think. >> it's common enough that several members of an nfl team fell for a similar scam. according to a new report, a woman led several washington redskins players to believe she was someone she was not. she tailored her communications with them, and even led them to try to arrange meetings with

her. it was about the same time manti te'o claims he first learned his online girlfriend was phony, an indication that other high-profile football players had been te'o'd. a memo went up in the locker room of the redskins in october saying, "stay away fro from @redridin hood, avoid her on twitter, avoid her on instagram, do not converse with this person on any social media program. she is not who she says she is." the redskins said phillip daniels was not available to speak to us and the family wouldn't put anyone out to talk to us about the players' interactions with the woman on social media. but daniels told nfl.com that on multiple occasions, several redskins' players tried to arrange meetings with the woman, who the report said went by the

pseudonym, sidney ackerman. she not only wasn't sidney ackerman, the report says, she also wasn't c.j. miles, whose pictures were ripped off and used in correspondence with the players. there's an unverified twitter feed registered to c.j. miles, with pictures of a similar-looking woman. the tweets there warn fans that an imposter has used her photos and say she feels sorry for the players who fell for the hoax. the nfl.com hoax says that none of the players were successful in arranging meetings with the woman who sent the tweets, and that raised suspicions with the redskins. nfl.com sources say that the woman is a redskins' fan, didn't ask the players for money or perks and didn't threaten them. but former redskins' tight end, rick "doc" walker, now a radio analyst, says the communications were fraught with risk. >> yeah, it's not the smartest thing to do, but you do some things when you're young that aren't real bright. you look back on it as you grow

up. the whole internet thing is odd to me. the manti te'o thing is ridiculous. >> and the players have women coming at them from all directions, right? >> well, i assume. it's not my world, but i know a few guys that are very popular. and i would say anybody that believes that pros are chasing ghosts are a damned fool. >> so who is the woman who sent the players those tweets? the nfl reporters said they were unable to verify that woman's identity. a league spokesman had no comment on the report, even though it was done by the league's website. the woman's twitter and facebook accounts have since been deactivated and we have tried to reach that adult entertainment star c.j. miles in e-mails. we have not heard back, wolf and kate. >> so is the nfl or any of these players looking to take any legal action against this person? >> we sked a about that. the reporter from the nfl.com has told us, according to his understanding, that the players and the league are not inclined to want to do that right now. our legal contributor, paul callan, says that it's very hard

to go after people criminally for this kind of thing, unless you're defrauded monetarily, via some kind of hoax like this, you can sue people civilly for pain and suffering and things like that, but you have to figure out who they are, first. very hard to do. right now, at least, the league and the players not inclined to go after them. >> be very careful with who you're communicating with online. let's get back to manti te'o for a moment. erin burnett is also going "outfront" on this story with a man who knows te'o better than most. erin, tell us what you have. >> we have the coach who actually recruited manti te'o to come to notre dame. he spent a lot of time with him, met him about 18 times. we're going to talk to him about whether he believes manti te'o and what kind of a person he is. we'll also be playing, when katie couric asked manti te'o, are you gay, how he answered that question and what he was really saying. plus, we're going to talk about something, wolf, i find pretty amazing. you know how silicon valley is often perceived as very liberal and very democratic. for example, google, you know,

had that town hall for president obama, about 97% of money google gave went to president obama. well, one very big executive in silicon valley is getting in bed with a republican likely for 2016. i'm talking about mark zuckerberg. and we've got that story. >> we'll see you at top of the hour and thank you. a top executive with united airlines says he's confident that passengers will want to fly the new dreamliner jet once it's allowed back in the air. cnn's sandra endo is here and she went behind the scenes into this grounded aircraft and its problems, sandra. what'd you find? >> there are still a lot of problems, kate. the ntsb is relaying on tools used in medicine and crime investigations, and we got an inside look at the laboratory, where cameras, microscopes, and cat scans are examining the damaged battery of boeing's prized dreamliner. >> this is one of the cell cases. >> reporter: piece by piece, inside this ntsb lab in washington, analysts are

dissecting the charred battery which caught on fire in a boeing 787 dreamliner earlier this month in boston. >> we know that the lithium ion battery experienced a thermal runaway. we know that there were short circuits and we know that there was a fire. >> reporter: the faa gave special permission to boeing, allowing the use of these lightweight batteries, only if safety measures were installed to prevent overheating. >> we do not expect to see fire events on board aircrafts. there are multiple systems to protect against a battery event like this. those systems did not work as intended. we need to understand why. >> reporter: the investigation was launched after two 787s this month experienced issues surrounding the jet's unique use of lithium ion batteries. first a battery behind the wings of a japan airline 787 exploded, and caught fire, while on the

ground in boston. initial tests rule out excess voltage and overcharging. another battery problem, this one near the cockpit of an a dreamliner led to smoke president cabin, while in the air over japan, forcing an emergency landing. excess voltage has also been ruled out, and for now, it doesn't look like overcharging was an issue. the ntsb is looking for defects or contamination in the battery, but said the problem could be elsewhere. united airlines is the only u.s. carrier with six dreamliners in its fleet. the coo said, "all new aircraft types have problems and the 787 is no different. customers will flock back to that airplane once we're able to get it back up again." boeing, which manufactures the dreamliner, issued a statement this evening saying it is confident and welcomes the ntsb's progress in this investigation and it has hundreds of engineers and technical experts working around the clock to resolve the issue.

but the ntsb had no timetable as to how long this investigation will take. so, for now, all dreamliners will remain grounded, and that includes any test flights. wolf and kate? >> all right. sandra endo, thank you. i mean, these are huge airplanes. it affects a lot of passengers, as well. >> we'll stay on top of this story. that could be very, very important. >> yeah. up next, jeanne moos has a new way to keep your pets, big pets, warm. and it will have you doing a double take. to the best vacation spot on earth. (all) the gulf!

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in taste, freshness, and nutrition? it's eb. eggland's best. better eggs. it's eb. all right. so we know all ponies have coats. >> that is true. but leave it to cnn's jeanne moos to find some that actually have sweaters too. >> reporter: fasten your cardigans, prepare to say ahh. these shetland ponies really know how to fill out a sweater. now, were these the biggest sweaters you've ever knitted? >> oh, yes, indeed. >> reporter: their names are fivla or vitamin. they are the new poster ponies for scotland's tourist organization, and instantly the world has gone gaga over them. >> we got a phone call saying, would your ponies wear jumpers.

and i said, i don't see why not. >> reporter: the owner sent their measurements to doreen brown, known for her shetland wool knitwear, but pony dimensions are different. >> you had to work out where his legs came and then, of course, he had a wide neck compared to a human being. >> reporter: so how do you get a cardigan on a pony? >> it was just a case of putting one foot in, put the other foot in, button it up. >> reporter: most of the buttoning was done lying on the ground, which was only possible because 17-year-old fivla and vitamin are so calm. no accidents, right? >> no, no, no. >> reporter: scottish tourism officials wanted to combine their two most famous exports, shetland ponies and shetland knitwear. though in the case of these pony sweaters -- >> they looked absolutely dreadful until they went on the ponies. >> reporter: well, that's the case with a lot of clothing, huh? now, we've seen a lot of critters wearing sweaters, from penguins to dogs, pigs, even

turtles on a blog called "animals in sweaters." >> what the [ bleep ] is that? >> reporter: now, that's a sweater fit for hannibal electorate. least vitamin and fivla weren't subjected to that. actually, horses wear covers all the time. i once dressed up in plaid to match a horse, but that was no match for these two dressed by scottish tourism. and how much did they have to pony up for a sweater fit for a pony? a little over $200 a horse, a bargain. fivla and vitamin got their sleeves dirty during a shoot, but the sweaters are hand washable. i don't want to sound insulting, but the sweaters make them look a little fat, don't you think? >> well, they are fat! >> reporter: who are you calling fat? button your lip, lady! jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> do you like those sweaters? >> i think you would look really fabulous. >> the red, you think? >> the red would loo